Toastable, commercially available breads are convenient but do not provide the variety that is sought by many consumers. Toastable ready-to-eat single serve pastry products, while providing convenience and variety, do not provide the homemade texture of a quick-bread desired by consumers. The process disclosed herein uses a chemically-leavened quick-bread batter having a sweetening agent content of about 8-20% to produce a leavened farinaceous baked food product in the shape of a slice of bread that provides the desirable texture of homemade quick bread, a product strength which makes it suitable for toasting and the convenience and variety of commercially available ready-to-eat single serve toastable pastry products. The process described herein can also use a yeast leavened dough having a fat content from about 0% to about 25% and a sweetening agent content of about 1% to 15%.
Three primary factors differentiate types of batters. These factors are: (1) ratio of flour to water; (2) the quality and the quantity of major flour components and; (3) the amounts of all ingredients. Batters represent the starting material for a variety of food products, e.g., cakes, waffles, pancakes, and coatings applied to foods. All of these foods are subsequently cooked in a variety of ways, such as baking, griddle frying and deep fat frying.
Batters and doughs differ in their physical and chemical properties. Batters have flow properties or viscosity and can develop an emulsion. In contrast, a dough has elasticity as a result of gluten developed with energy. Batters will incorporate and trap air during mixing whereas doughs will incorporate carbon dioxide if allowed to ferment. Nonetheless, there are many similarities between doughs and batters, e.g., they each may or may not be leavened.
Waffle batters and yeast leavened doughs differ from quick-bread batters in various ways, such as, e.g., the sugar content. The cooking times for the waffles, bread doughs and quick breads also differ. Waffles cook in 1-2 minutes while dough breads and quick-breads generally require more than 30 minutes to cook. In addition, the cooked products differ in their texture. Cooked waffles and yeast leavened doughs have an airy non-uniform cell structure. In contrast cooked, chemically leavened quick-breads as defined herein have a bread/cake-like texture with generally uniform pores.
Unlike yeast-leavened bread products, chemically-leavened bread products do not require a proofing step before the product is baked. Proofing is the period in which the yeast expands the dough volume and adds significant time to the preparation of the bread product. Typically, proofing is carried out at a temperature in the range of about 27.degree. C. (80.degree. F.) to about 45.degree. C. (113.degree. F.) at a relative humidity in the range of 80-90% for about 10-30 min.
There are various methods known for producing pre-baked bread-like food products but such methods often involve time-consuming steps such as preparing and shaping a dough and extensive baking time. In other methods, the dough is fried and then baked. In still other methods the dough must be tempered to increase its moisture content by, e.g., spraying the partially baked product with a mist or injecting the pre-baked product with steam to increase moisture. In other methods the product must be thawed prior to its consumption or the product must be baked for a relatively long time by the consumer. Microwave defrosting of pre-baked products is undesirable because it can create a hard spot in the center of the product. Conventional quick-breads and muffins are not suitable for toasting because when toasted they cannot be hand-held without crumbling and falling apart.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,526 discloses a process for producing a chemically leavened frozen biscuit. The biscuit is prepared from a dough that is cut into preforms and fully baked to form an intermediate product which is then tempered to increase its moisture content, and frozen. The frozen biscuit is then baked by the consumer at about 75.degree. C. (167.degree. F.) without prior thawing.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,788,067 and 4,861,601 disclose a process for producing a frozen, pre-proofed and partially baked crusty bread. The final baking steps are completed by the consumer. The process comprises time-consuming steps of preparing and shaping a dough, and then proofing and baking the dough. A critical step in the production of the crusty bread is a second injection of steam into the oven during the partial baking of the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,433 discloses a process for producing a pre-cooked, microwaveable frozen baked food product having an outer crust. The process comprises preparing, shaping and proofing a dough, then baking the dough from 10 min. to 30 min. and finally freezing and tempering the dough to increase its moisture content.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,198 discloses a process for preparing a cooked dough product wherein only minor portions of the surface is toasted and then the product is fried or baked.
None of the aforementioned patents teach or suggest the process of the present invention or the product of this invention, i.e., a leavened, farinaceous, baked food product in the shape of a slice of bread that has a crust on all sides and is suitable for toasting.